Operative delivery: they end up in caesarian sections or forceps deliveries due to the big size of the baby and may have injuries to their birth canals.

There are problems for baby:

The babies are bigger in size. They are swollen due to high insulin levels in their mothers.

The babies may suffer from obesity and other disorders like diabetes in adolescence and childhood

Congenital Anomalies: the babies may have ASD (that is a defect in heart chamber). There are also chances of defects in spinal cord.

Repeated miscarriages

Premature delivery as the water bag leaks before expected date due to infections caused by diabetes

Hydramnios: the water in the bag around the baby increases, causing discomfort and early rupture of membranes.

The problems faced by baby around birth time:The baby will have difficulty in breathing due to difficult delivery due to its size (in addition the material that helps in breathing develops late in GDM babies). The baby’s sugar level falls as soon as baby is born, these babies will have jaundice more than the normal babies, there calcium level falls and they can have fits.

Who is at Risk?

What will your doctor be looking for in the first visit?

If the mother had pregnancy diabetes in previous pregnancy

If the woman is in the pre-diabetic range (pre-diabetes i.e. HbA1C is more than 5.7) A cut-off of > 5.7 % is considered at risk of developing sugar in pregnancy.

BMI > 30 kg/m2 at the first antenatal visit, personal history of metabolic syndrome, PCOS, obesity

I have put together a few informative articles I came across regarding Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS). They put together a holistic approach towards the identification and treatment of PCOS for the general public:

Diagram to explain the common manifestations of PCOS – courtesy: pcosdietsupport.com

“Behind every successful woman is herself”

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I’m a doctor by profession and passion, specifically a gynecologist and obstetrician with specific interest in sub-fertility. I’m also a strong advocate for women’s health and rights issues. I strongly believe that knowledge of any kind needs to be shared with the wider public. As humans it is our duty to share what we know, even if it seems insignificant someone somewhere out there will always benefit.

Thousands of candles can be lighted from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Knowledge never decreases by being shared.